“A readable, lucid introduction to encryption with an emphasis
on WWII applications, but with a range from Caesar to PGP.”
“Code Breaking: A History and Exploration has joined Simon
Singh’s The Code Book on my bookshelf, and it’s hard to read either
of these books without comparing it to the other. If you’ve read
the Singh book, though, you’ll certainly find that the material
covered overlaps heavily. Read on to find out if you’d enjoy
checking out Kippenhahn’s work.”
“Lucidly, and in the way of great teachers who neither baffle
nor condescend, Kippenhahn tells the story of how encryption and
cryptanalysis has evolved through the ages, and sprinkles examples
and reader exercises throughout. Unlike Singh’s book, though, which
starts its historical wanderings with Mary, Queen of Scots,
Kippenhahn’s draws the largest chunk of its examples from World War
II. Given the scope and innovation in encryption that occurred in
WWII, this can hardly be seen as a limitation. In fairness, that’s
not to say that many of his examples don’t come from other times
before or since World War II. Some of the hard to overlook
techniques of encryption, as well several of the famous coded
messages on which some of the turns of modern history have hinged
are represented here. For instance, the Zimmerman telegram,
probably one the most-pivotal, least-talked-about-in-school
transmissions of the century, draws several pages explaining how
the American and British espionage services ended up cracking the
message which could have led to war between Mexico and the
U.S.”